Hyperlight EX for New 3DS Review

Info: Price £4.99, Developer: CatfishBlues Games , Genre: Arcade , Players: 1

Hyperlight EX is an exclusive new 3DS port from the 2011 original which are on both Android and iOS platforms.

At first this game looks like a Geometry Wars clone with it’s background and music. But unlike Geometry Wars which was a shooter, Hyperlight EX takes away the shooting (most of it) and makes it a collider by using the FTL (Faster Than Light) weapon into your enemies by pressing the A button.

As quickly as FTL makes your ship, it drains just as quickly and you will need to get powerups to reboost your FTL and quickly before the swarms of enemies approach you. There are other powerups such as a gun which gives you several seconds of bullets from your ship, a shield and some bombs. With the speed and the amount of enemies coming your way you have to choose between getting combos or getting the weapons.

There are three modes, the first being Arcade mode in where you progress through each stage by surviving the onslaught on enemies before having to defeat the mini boss at the end. The extra challenging bit is that you only have one life to use and there are no checkpoints so if you die you go back to the beginning of that stage. At the end of each set of stages is an actual boss which are way harder than the already hard stages and mini bosses, so expect to see that game over screen often and hence planning a strategy the next time just to make it to the end.

Infinity mode is self-explanatory and plays pretty much like arcade mode with enemies and mini bosses galore and having three lives instead of one. Panic mode unlike the first two mode requires you to tilt your 3DS to play it and there is no FTL, but you get three lives and weapons come up more frequently to make up for it. Controlling the game via tilt mode can be hard to deal with at first.

Hyperlight EX really shines with the neon and colourful effects from the ships and weapons and the 3D effect has a great effect on the background. That being said, it is best to turn the 3D off in Panic mode, with the game stating that it is best turned off during said mode.

In conclusion, if you are looking for a handheld Geometry Wars clone with a twist then Hyperlight EX is your game, but it’s difficulty can be brutal to newcomers so be prepared for loads of deaths.

Pros:

• Graphics and effects look great especially in 3D.
• Interesting blend of arcade genres.
• Good selection of items.

Cons:

• Difficulty can be brutal.
• No online leaderboards.
• Panic mode can be difficult even for this game.

Final Score 7.5/10

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Tags: catfishblues games, geometry wars, hyperlight ex, new 3ds, unity

This post was written by Cyburn, posted on January 3, 2017 Tuesday at 12:00 pm